US embassy cable - 03AMMAN4352

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 004352 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, 
I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN 
USAID/ANE/MEA 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH 
PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead stories in all papers today, July 15, and over 
the past several days focus on the formation of the 
Iraqi governing council.  Coverage has included 
reference to the body's "limited" powers of authority 
and questions about its legitimacy with the Iraqi 
people.  One Jordanian daily derided the council's 
declaration of April 9 ("Occupation Day") as a 
national holiday.  Reports have also continued to 
emphasize attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, with one 
headline on July 15 declaring: "Explosions Shake 
Baghdad on the Anniversary of July 14," referring to 
events marking the military coup of Abdel Karim 
Qassim.  Editorials on the issue have been mixed, with 
"liberals" asking for patience and a chance for the 
council to succeed, and Islamists and leftists either 
deriding the council as illegitimate or citing its 
early formation as proof of the effectiveness of 
continued armed resistance. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "The legitimacy of the Iraqi council lies in 
quickening the end of occupation" 
 
Daily columnist Sultan Hattab writes on the op-ed page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(07/15):  "It is not strange that the formation of the 
interim council in Iraq is met by such a wave of 
denunciations and negativity among the Arabs.  Many of 
us have diligently been drawing the lines of what is 
right and what is wrong for our Iraqi brothers, even 
before asking the opinion of those people concerned.. 
I must say that the formation of the interim governing 
council in Iraq did not meet the Iraqis demands for 
national democratic rule nor for putting an end to the 
occupation.  Furthermore, the Iraqis did not take to 
the streets in jubilation.  However, the Iraqis, 
unlike some of their Arab brethren, want to slow down 
and give this move a chance before judging it.  They 
could not have adopted a negative stand about an 
arrangement that brings together all their political 
forces, despite its shortfalls in terms of the absence 
of those calling for the revival of the monarchy. 
Yet, since this council is temporary and interim in 
its nature, these shortfalls can be overlooked while 
highlighting the positive aspects of it in terms of 
filling the political void and providing a formula, 
even though not comprehensive, for representing the 
Iraqi political society." 
 
-- "A governing council that lacks legitimacy" 
 
Daily columnist Fahd Fanek writes on the back page of 
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(07/15):  "Under pressure from the Iraqi resistance, 
Iraq's governor Bremer was forced to form an Iraqi 
governing council to be some sort of cover for the 
occupation before the Iraqi people.  The governing 
council does not represent the Iraqi people, but the 
party that appointed it, which is the occupation.  It 
cannot be considered a push for democracy, because 
democracy exists when the people are sought to elect 
their own representatives..  The reference for the 
appointed governing council is the occupation.  The 
council may very well turn out to be worse than the 
occupation and bolder in its wrongdoing.  It has 
already outbid the occupiers when it considered the 
day of the downfall of Baghdad as a national holiday.. 
In its press conference, the governing council 
expressed its antagonism for the Arabs and for the 
independent media.  It attacked Arab regimes and the 
Arab League for their of Saddam.  It also attacked the 
BBC on the pretext of being biased in favor of Saddam. 
It attacked Al-Jazirah TV and other satellite 
televisions on the pretext that they are instigating 
the Iraqi people against the occupation.  It has 
stressed that Saddam will not be coming back and that 
survival is for the American occupation alone." 
 
-- "The interim council is a step in the right 
direction" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the back page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(07/14):  "Whatever is being written or said about the 
recently formed Iraqi interim governing council, there 
is one fact that cannot be denied, namely that the 
council is representative of most, if not all, of the 
active and influential Iraqi political and religious 
spectrums and that it is the first council in the 
history of Iraq where seats are distributed in 
accordance with the demographic distribution on the 
ground..The new council, in its formation, job and 
decisions, is going to face great of criticism.  The 
parties, the people and the tribes who were not 
represented are going to express their rejection and 
their doubts.  Yet, despite all this, we must say that 
we are seeing a transitional step in the right 
direction, a step that paves the way for other steps 
that will allow Iraq and the Iraqis to get out of the 
tunnel of the foreign occupation, just as they had 
been allowed to get out of the tunnel of dictatorship 
approximately one hundred days before." 
 
-- "Bremer's new council and its many issues" 
 
Daily columnist Yaser Za'atreh writes on the op-ed 
page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al- 
Dustour (07/14):  "We are not wrong when we say that 
the authorities given to the Iraqi interim governing 
council were the result of the heroic Iraqi resistance 
which has played on the nerves of Bush and the right- 
wing in the United States and which has left clear 
marks on the morale of the soldiers..  The issue here 
may be a genuine distribution of the cake, as if the 
occupier has really left the game and given Iraq back 
to the Iraqis.  Yet, close inspection of this issue 
shows a different story.  The new council enjoys only 
executive authorities, while the veto remains in the 
hand of the American governor.  This being the way it 
is, these authorities actually relieve the Americans 
of their burden and rescue them from having the image 
of the dirty occupier by having a town council that 
undertakes the tasking of the police and public 
services.  However, matters of sovereignty that affect 
politics, economy and foreign relations continue to be 
in the hands of Bremer and his superiors in 
Washington." 
 
-- "The interim governing council" 
 
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(07/14):  "International, regional and domestic 
pressures, and not to forget the armed resistance, 
have all pushed the occupation administration to 
establish the Iraqi interim governing council.  This 
step marks a qualitative move, despite the criticisms 
that accompanied the announcement of the council..  To 
say that the Americans are entrenching and encouraging 
sectarianism is completely false, because sectarian 
division already exists.  Let us put the Americans 
aside.  The ball is now in the court of the Iraqis 
themselves.  The current council is tasked with 
writing the country's constitution, which will either 
hold on to or exclude any sectarianism.  The Iraqis 
can choose the most advanced and sophisticated of 
constitutions and can ignore aspects of race and 
sectarianism.  However, we already know two facts. 
The first is that the Kurds want a federation that 
would give them a great deal of independence and a 
major role in the central government, while the 
Shiites and the Sunnis reject the idea of a federation 
and prefer administrative decentralization.  The 
second fact is that the Shiites view themselves as 
having a priority, being the majority, to the 
presidency of the state.  The Sunnis are the weakest 
party in this equation, something that is difficult to 
have end in an understanding.  But if the Sunnis 
decide to embark on a historic venture that adopts a 
formula where all racial, ethnic and sectarianism 
considerations are put behind them and where the only 
foundation and principle is Iraqi citizenship, then it 
would be worth that venture just for the sake of a 
happy Iraq, even though this might in reality mean 
that the Shiite majority would take hold of the 
legislative council and hence the state institutions. 
What does this matter anyway, if there is no 
oppression or discrimination against any sect of 
society?" 
 
-- "A council for Bremer's account only" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(07/14):  "The birth of the new council in Iraq does 
not constitute national rule nor an elected council 
that represents the Iraqi people.  This council is the 
making of an occupation force that invaded Iraq in 
spite of the opposition of the international community 
and the United Nations.  It would be gravely wrong for 
the Arab League to reach the point of recognizing this 
council.  Such recognition is going to give legitimacy 
to the increasing occupations in the Arab world, 
making Sharon the decider of the fate of the 
Palestinians, and maybe to others in the future." 
 
HALE